Monthly Archives: January 2015

The “Father of Chemistry” wanted to evangelize America?… and warned of the end?

Robert Boyle was born JANUARY 25, 1627.

He studied Bacon, Descartes, and other of his contemporaries, including scientists Isaac Newton and Galileo, philosophers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, and poet John Milton.

Robert Boyle made contributions in physics and chemistry, especially with his pneumatic experiments using the vacuum pump, putting forward the idea that gases were made of tiny particles.

He discovered the basic law of gas dynamics, known as “Boyle’s Law,” that if the volume of a gas is decreased, the pressure increases proportionally.

Boyle defined the modern idea of an ‘element,’ introduced the litmus test to distinguish acids from bases, and was the first to use the term “chemical analysis.”

In 1660, Boyle and eleven others formed the Royal Society in London to advance scientific experiments.

While in Geneva, during a frightening thunderstorm, Boyle had a deepening conversion experience.

Boyle devoted much effort to defending and propagating the Christian religion, writing the ‘Boyle Lectures’ and numerous books, including:

Of the high Veneration Man’s Intellect owes to God (1684);

Discourse Of Things Above Reason (1681);

Some Considerations touching the Style of the Holy Scriptures (1661); and

The Christian Virtuoso (1690), which John Locke reviewed in 1681, and which was a basis for Cotton Mather’s work, The Christian Philosopher, 1721.

Robert Boyle provided in his Last Will and Testament, dated July 28, 1691:

“Fifty pounds…for an annual salary so some learned Divine or Preaching Minister…to preach eight sermons in the year, for proving the Christian Religion against notorious Infidels, viz., Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, not descending lower to any controversies that are among Christians themselves…

and encouraging…any undertaking for Propagating the Christian Religion in foreign parts.”

Robert Boyle was a director of the East India Company, and spent large sums supporting missionary societies in the spread of Christianity in Asia.

Boyle believed all races, no matter how diverse, came from Adam and Eve.

He funded translations of the Bible to make it available in people’s vernacular language, in contrast to the prevailing Latin-only policy, most notably an Irish edition (1680-1685), which was thought ill of by English upper class.

In a letter to a Mr. Clodius, Boyle was concerned about propagating the Gospel to natives in New England and the rest of America, and how to translate and print the Bible in American Indian languages.

Robert Boyle wrote:

“Our Saviour would love at no less rate than death; and from the super-eminent height of glory, stooped and debased Himself to the sufferance of the extremest of indignities, and sunk himself to the bottom of abjectness, to exalt our condition to the contrary extreme.”

Boyle wrote in Some Considerations Touching the Style of the Holy Scriptures (1661):

“The Books of Scripture…expound each other; as in the mariner’s compass, the needle’s extremity, though it seems to point purposely to the north, doth yet at the same time discover both east and west, as distant as they are from it and each other, so do some texts of Scripture guide us to the intelligence of others.”

Boyle wrote:

“There are divers truths in the Christian religion, that reason left to itself would never have been able to find out…

Such as…free will…that the world was made in six days, that Christ should be born of a virgin, and that in his person there should be united two such infinitely distant natures as the divine and human;

and that the bodies of good men shall be raised from death and so advantageously changed, that the glorified persons shall be like or equal to, the angels.”

Boyle wrote of the last days and the “sinful world’s ruin”:

“In Noah’s time a deluge of impiety called for a deluge of waters…and so when (in the last days) the earth shall be replenished with those scoffers mentioned by St Peter, who will walk after their own lusts, and deride the expectation of God’s foretold coming to judge and punish the ungodly,

their impiety shall be as well punished as silenced by the unexpected flames…that shall either destroy or transfigure the world.

For as by the law of Moses the leperous garment which would not be recovered by being washed in water, was to be burnt in the fire, so the world, which the Deluge could not cleanse, a general conflagration must destroy.”

Boyle wrote of the destruction of the world by fire at the end of this age:

“The present course of nature shall not last always, but that one day this world…shall either be abolished by annihilation, or which seems far more probable, be innovated, and as it were transfigured, and that, by the intervention of that fire, which shall dissolve and destroy the present frame of nature:

so that either way, the present state of things, (as well natural as political) shall have an end.”

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

“Play the man, Master Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

When Mary died, NOVEMBER 17, 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth became Queen.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, replied at her Coronation in 1558, when questioned as to the presence of Christ in the Sacrament:

“Christ was the Word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it,
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.”

Elizabeth continued the Church of England begun when her father, Henry VIII, separated from Rome, though “Puritans” objected to many rituals being retained.

During Elizabeth’s 45 year reign, Shakespeare wrote plays, Francis Bacon began the scientific revolution and Sir Walter Raleigh began a colony he named Virginia, in honor of the “Virgin Queen Elizabeth.”

Virginia’s Charter, 1584, stated:

“Elizabeth, by the Grace of God of England…Defender of the Faith…grant to our trusty and well beloved servant Walter Raleigh…to discover…barbarous lands…not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People…

Upon…finding…such remote lands…it shall be necessary for the safety of all men…to live together in Christian peace…

Ordinances…agreeable to…the laws…of England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian faith.”

“Let tyrants fear…I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that…Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm…

I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general…Your valour…shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”

The smaller, more maneuverable English vessels proved difficult for the Spanish to catch.

At midnight, July 28, 1588, Sir Francis Drake set eight English ships on fire and floated them downwind to the closely anchored Spanish ships.

In a panic, the Spanish ships cut anchor, and then were hit by a hurricane.

With Spain’s Armada destroyed, its monopoly of the seas ended, England was established as a major European power, and Holland, Sweden, and France joined in founding colonies in America.

Queen Elizabeth, the last Tudor monarch, stated in 1566:

“I am your Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am endued with such qualities that if I were turned out of the Realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.”

Queen Elizabeth told the House of Commons in The Golden Speech, November 30, 1601:

“Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my Crown, that I have reigned with your loves…

I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people…

The title of a King is a glorious title, but…we well know…that we also are to yield an account of our actions before the Great Judge.”

When rumors arose of a plot to assassinate her, Elizabeth executed dozens, including her cousin who was under her protection, Mary Queen of Scots – the mother of England’s next monarch, King James I.

Of her epitaph, Elizabeth said:

“I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire that my name may be recorded in a line or two, which shall express my name, my virginity, the years of my reign, and the reformation of religion under it.”

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

“As the golden glow of the Statue of Liberty’s rekindled torch calls forth…throughout our land, let every American take it as a summons to rededication, recalling those words we sang as children:

‘Our father’s God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom’s Holy Light.
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, Our King.’”

If you are interested in quotes on
“My Country” see below:
“If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready, at the appointed hour of sacrifice…But while I do live, let me have a country, and that a free country!” – John Adams

“While my country calls for the exertion of that little share of abilities, which it has pleased God to bestow on me, I hold it my indispensable duty to give myself to her.” – Gouverneur Morris

“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” – Nathan Hale

“I shall anticipate…the place to be assigned me in the history of my country, and die contented with the belief that I have contributed… to…prolong the duration of American liberty.” – Andrew Jackson

“I implore the Spirit from whom every good and perfect gift descends to enable me to render essential service to my country.” – John Quincy Adams

“The ends I aim at shall be my country’s, my God’s, and Truth’s. I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American.” – Daniel Webster

“I will never forget that I am an American fighting man, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.” – President Eisenhower, Code of Conduct for Military

“No, this is a service for my country, and it doesn’t matter whether I do it as an officer or as a plainsman. The big thing is to do it.” – Kit Carson

“No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is the advise of Samuel Adams to him no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people.” – Samuel Adams

“Our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality…I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire.” – George Washington

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” – Thomas Jefferson

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

King Sennacherib, 705-681 BC, made Nineveh one of the most magnificent capitals in the world.

The word “Arab” is actually the Assyrian word “westerner,” first used by King Sennacherib in telling his conquest of the “ma’rabayeh”–westerners.

Assyrians and Babylonians laid down the fundamental basis of mathematics, the Pythagorean Theorem, the concept of zero and designed parabolic domes and arches.

Sometime in the 8th century BC, Arameans immigrated into Mesopotamia and their Aramaic language became the lingua franca for the entire region, replacing the languages of the Akkadians/Assyro-Babylonian peoples.

Aramaic was spoken through the time of Christ, and was still in use by Christians in the small Syrian village of Ma’loula till it was overrun by fundamentalist Muslim rebels in September of 2013.

Beginning in 538 BC, for the next seven centuries Assyria was ruled by other empires:

Greeks first began using the shortened name “Syria” to refer to western Assyria.

With the arrival of Christianity, Saint Thomas, Saint Bartholemew and Saint Thaddeus founded the Assyrian Christian Church in 33 AD.

A dialect of the Aramaic language called ‘Syriac’ became the new lingua franca of that part of the world.

The Apostle Paul evangelized in Syria, beginning in the city of Damascus.

The very word “Christian” was first used for followers of Jesus Christ in Antioch, Syria. (Acts 11:23-26)

By the year 265 AD, Syria was one of the first nations to be completely Christian.

In the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries, Christian Assyrians began a systematic translation of Greek works in religion, science, philosophy (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle) and medicine (Galen) into Syriac.

After the invasion of Arab Muslims in the 7th century, Syrian scholars translated Greek works into Arabic.

The book, How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs, documented the work of 22 scholars, 20 of which were Christian Assyrians, with only 1 Persian and 1 Arab.

These translations were later taken by Moors into Spain, where Europeans translated them into Latin, laying the groundwork for the Renaissance.

One of the greatest Christian Assyrian achievements of the Fourth Century was the founding of the first university in the world, the School of Nisibis. It had three departments, theology, philosophy and medicine, and became a center of intellectual development in the Middle East and the model for the first Italian university.

In the 5th century, nine Christian Syrian Monks translated Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac works into the Ethiopian language of Ge’ez. They organized Christian monastic orders and schools, some of which are still in existence.

Saint John of Damascus in Syria, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, was one of the greatest scholars in the 8th century.

Assyrian Christians pioneered hospitals, with the Bakhteesho family having nine generations of physicians and founding the great medical school at Gundeshapur in present-day Iran.

The Assyrian Christian physician, Hunayn ibn-Ishaq, wrote a textbook on ophthalmology in 950 AD which remained the authoritative source until 1800 AD.

Assyrian Christian philosopher Job of Edessa developed a physical theory of the universe rivaling Aristotle’s.

The literary output of the Assyrians and Jews was vast. After Latin and Greek, the third largest corpus of Christian writing was in the Assyrian “Syriac” language.

Assyrian missionaries brought Nestorian “Syriac” Christianity into Mesopotamia, then into the Persian Sassanid Empire (including parts of modern-day Iran and Iraq), as well as into India, Central Asia, the Uyghurs, the Tang Dynasty of China, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.

As Arab Muslims swept through the Middle East beginning in 630 AD, Chaldean and Babylonian astronomers were forcibly Islamized till they eventually disappeared.

As Muslims conquered trade routes to the east, they co-opted advances made by other civilizations and claimed them as their own.

The hundreds of years of rich Assyrian civilization was expropriated into the Arab culture.

As the heavy burdens of the “dhimmi” status and intermittent persecutions caused the Assyrian Christian community to decline, the so-called Golden Age of Islam correspondingly declined.

“And having seen very much modesty and other habits of this kind among Christian people, certainly the Mongols loved them greatly at the beginning of their kingdom, a time ago somewhat short. But their love hath turned to such intense hatred that they cannot even see them with their eyes approvingly.”

In 1268, Mamluk Sultan Baibars conquered Antioch, Syria, and slaughtered all the Christian and Jewish men and sold the women into slavery, smashed church crosses, burned Bibles, desecrated graves, and dragged every priest, deacon, and monk to the altar and slit their throats.

He destroyed the Church of St. Paul and the Cathedral of St. Peter.

In response to cries for help, King Louis IX of France set sail from Aigues-Mortes in 1270 leading the 8th Crusade to come to the aid of Christian states in Syria. King Louis IX was diverted to Tunis where he was defeated and died of dysentery.

In 1271, Edward I, the future King of England, undertook a 9th Crusade to help in Syria.

Tripoli (in present-day Lebanon) fell to Mamluk Sultan Qalawun in 1289, and Acre fell in 1291 to Mamluk Sultan as-Ashraf Khalil in a bloody siege, ending the last traces of Christian rule in Syria.

As Marco Polo traveled east in 1271 AD, he noted Assyrian Christian missionaries had converted tens of thousands in Indian and China to Syrian “Nestorian” Christianity.

Even the influential mother of Kublai Khan, Sorghaghtani Beki, was a Nestorian Christian.

The first Mongolian system of writing used the Assyrian “Syriac” alphabet, with the name “Tora Bora” being an Assyrian phrase meaning “arid mountain.”

Nestorian Christianity declined in China when the Ming Dynasty forced out Mongolian and other foreign influences.

Nestorian Christianity was eradicated from Persia and Central Asia by the Muslim crusader Tamerlane, who massacred an estimated 17 million.

In 1399, Tamerlane invaded Syria, sacked Aleppo and captured Damascus, massacring the inhabitants and erecting towers made out of skulls.

Northern Iraq had remained Assyrian Christian until Tamerlane systematically decimated the population.

When Turks began imposing the Turkish language throughout the Ottoman Empire, Syrian Christian scholars were responsible for preserving the Arabic language.

For centuries, Syria was under Ottoman Muslim rule.

In 1867, Mark Twain visited Syria, writing in his book Innocents Abroad:

“Then we called at…the mausoleum of the five thousand Christians who were massacred in Damascus in 1861 by the Turks.

They say those narrow streets ran blood for several days, and that men, women and children were butchered indiscriminately and left to rot by hundreds all through the Christian quarter; they say, further, that the stench was dreadful.

All the Christians who could get away fled from the city, and the Mohammedans would not defile their hands by burying the ‘infidel dogs.’

The thirst for blood extended to the high lands of Hermon and Anti-Lebanon, and in a short time 25,000 more Christians were massacred and their possessions laid waste…

How they hate a Christian in Damascus! — and pretty much all over Turkeydom as well.”

In 1908, a Turkish Spring began.

The brief euphoria when the Ottoman tyrant Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid was forced from power quickly turned to horror.

Three Pashas, known as “The Young Turks” promoted the idea of “Ottomanization” — creating a homogeneous Turkey of one race, one language, and one religion – Islam.

While the world focused on Germany, France and England during World War I, Turkish Muslims massacred ethnic minorities.

Over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children were killed, 750,000 Syrians, and 1 million Greeks, Albanians, Serbs, and Bulgarians.

Historian Arnold Toynbee wrote:

“Turkish rule…is now, oppressing or massacring, slaughtering or driving from their homes, the Christian population of Greek or Bulgarian stock…

Armenia and Cilicia, and Syria, where within the last two years it has been destroying its Christian subjects…

The Young Turkish gang who gained power when they had deposed Abd-ul-Hamid, have surpassed even that monster of cruelty in their slaughter.”

After World War I, the Ottoman Empire fell.

Britain took Iraq as a protectorate, allowing them independence 1932, but one of Iraq’s first governmental acts was to massacre 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simmele.

France took Lebanon and Syria as protectorates, allowing them independence in 1943 and 1946, respectively.

Though a republic, Syria soon suffered upheaval, coup d’etat, socialism, riots, civil disorder and the “Arab Spring” led by the Muslim Brotherhood whose goal is to re-establish the caliphate – a totalitarian Islamic State.

Since the invasion of Islam in 630 AD, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, and the Chaldean Catholic Church, quietly suffered 33 major genocides, averaging one every 40 years.

As reported by CNSnews.com, the Patriarch of Antioch, Gregory III, who oversees the 1.6 million members of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories and Sudan, stated:

“Who created this hell in which our people have been living for months?… Every day, Islamic extremists from all over the world are pouring into Syria with the sole intent to kill and not one country has done anything to stop them…”

Gregory III concluded:

“For the last two and a half years, Eastern and Western countries have not stopped sending weapons, money, military experts, secret service agents and Salafist fundamentalist armed gangs of thugs and criminals, who have fallen on Syria like a destructive new flood.”

Between 2011-2014, the U.S. pulled troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan which created a power vacuum.

The U.S. then released, in exchange for Army defector Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl, five senior Afghan Taliban commanders.

These Muslim leaders, according to a 2008 Pentagon dossier, are capable not only of leading attacks in the Middle East but also in America: Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Mohammed Nabi Omari.

After the U.S. supplied arms to fundamentalist Muslim fighters to overthrow Gaddafi in Lybia, the U.S. supplied and trained Muslim fighters to overthrow Assad in Syria. These fighters, referred to as ISIS, killed, raped, and beheaded tens of thousands in Syria and Iraq.

They gave Christian and Yazidis minorities the choice: convert to Islam, be killed, pay the exorbitant jizyah tax, or flee, as hundreds of thousands did.

They destroyed Christian churches in Syria and Iraq, such as the ancient 1,800 year old church in Mosul.

Patriarch Louis Sako stated:

“For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”

Since 2012, nearly a quarter of million have been killed by ISIS as they have overrun Syria and Iraq.

German journalist Manuel Ochsenreiter was asked by RT.com on August 21, 2014, about the United States supporting ISIS through its allies:

“In order to fight against the Islamic State in a successful way the West needs to sanction and punish all those powers that are supporting the Islamic State, namely Turkey and the Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar) Ochsenreiter believes.

‘We have to see the Islamic State terrorists as a Western-created monster. The Islamic State would not exist without the fierce Western help and also the support by the Arabic Gulf States, as well as the support from Turkey…

Nobody was talking about helping Christians in the region.”

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

HEBREW HONEYCOMBPLANET EARTH: MY MOTHER!There is a natal bond between planet Earth and mankind. From the initial days in Eden it speaks of his prime directive or purpose. Think with me!

Adam (mankind) was the name of the first human. Add the feminine ending (ah) to that word in Hebrew and one has “Adamah” which is translated “dust, soil, dirt,” the substance of the planet. So, Earth is the mother of mankind, and God is the Creator/Father. He was made to be Adam from the same elements as the soil, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives: (yes, lives, plural) physical, mental and spiritual. Thus was Adam made the lord of the life sustaining planet. Inquiring minds want to know why.

Previously, the earth was under the care of Lucifer and the myriad of angels under his command. Lucifer coveted the position of the Son, originating opposition to the Will of God; hence, sin! It is believed Lucifer is responsible for wrecking to the point of utter chaos what was a perfect, life-sustaining planet , Gen.1:2.

Logic would indicate that a controversy over ownership of the planet ensued between God as Creator and Lucifer claiming it was given to him. There being no other super powers to settle the argument, the planet would thus speak for itself. Of course, being without brain, or mouth, that seemed impossible, but here is where the import of the bond becomes underscored. God caused the planet to give birth as it were to one like itself, but who could reason, speak and make decisions. That would put Adam into the position of being a walking, talking dirtball, which seems a little humiliating. Actually, it is an extremely exalted position. He would speak for the planet since God as Creator is not an arbitrary God.

So man must be subjected to the influences of God and of Lucifer. Eve being deceived and Adam choosing her over the word of his Creator brought sin to the species and a yielding up of the lordship of the planet to the fallen archangel.

But the story does not end there. The Creator chose to become one of His created beings and succeed where Adam failed. Since it was a decision of commitment that brought sin, it is a decision of commitment that brings life and righteousness. It is also the purpose of the Creator to bring man to a high level of spiritual maturity that will enable him to do in the millennial reign of Christ, what he should have been doing from the beginning. He will rule the earth in righteousness to the eternal glory of Jesus, and the astonishment of his unfathomable grace. Paul says in Romans 8 that the creation groans in travail, awaiting the glorious liberty of the sons of God (its offspring) in which it also will be finally freed from the power of bondage. There is good reason earth is called “Mother Earth.”

HEBREW HONEYCOMB
PASTOR, PASTORS, POPES, AND DEACONS
Much that is made in history over strict orthodoxy in the church both in practice and in names seems to be falling by the wayside in the modern dumbing down of churches through what seems to be endless expansion of definition of terms. I reference primarily the term “pastor.” Are you ready to think with me? Please do!
An illustration of the subject matter at hand is the recent abandonment of the office of Pope by the head of the Catholic Church. According to them, he is the vicar of Christ, successor, of the apostle Peter. That title designates a single authoritative individual succeeding the previous one at death. . . . until now. So, the Pope decided for whatever reason, he did not want to be Pope any longer. A new one must be elected, but the former one is still alive and so designated as that successor. Now there are two living popes. Confusing? Rather! But this is an illustration. On the other hand, what is going on in the Lord’s churches?
A New Testament church has two divinely created offices: pastor and deacon. God calls men into the gospel ministry qualifying them to be the pastor of one of His churches. Churches select men (deacons) to serve them in various capacities as they have need. This has been the biblical and time honored status for the past two thousand years, but things appear to be changing in many churches.
Nowadays, some churches, large or small, have weakened the meaning and exclusiveness of “pastor” by designating others not having a life calling of God to that office as a youth pastor, a seniors’ pastor, a worship pastor (song leader), perhaps a nursery pastor, as well as a senior pastor who usually is the God-called minister and spiritual leader, but not always senior in age. The stripping or expanding of the strict definition of a church pastor to include most any and everything surely lends much deterioration to the meaning and respect of the office and office holder. This usually emanates from a desire to exceed Bible elevation of those who serve in various ministries of the church or else from a desire to lessen the exclusiveness of the God-called leader or both, and it is not good (strange as it seems, this practice makes some unseasoned pastors feel important). Soon every Sunday School Teacher will be known as a “Class Pastor” which leaves only the folks in the pews. Surely they will become known as “Pew Pastors.” If a title must be bestowed on those who serve the church who are not the God-called, spiritual leader, then what is wrong with “deacon?” It is a good, biblical word and it literally means “servant.” It would be so much more fitting and honorable to them who are not called of God into a separate life of spiritual leadership as is a God-called pastor, but are so selected by the church that they serve which may define the description and duration of their duties. But then, what is the real purpose in any action such as this multi-pastor title in the first place? Doubtless, every extra-scriptural action consistently yields increased, undesirable, and possibly unscriptural results. Chalk this writer up as a voice of old-school Baptists.

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED
Parson to person
Never before has the world been so filled with transient folks. Modern transportation and international trade seems to have shrunken the world significantly. Nowadays, one may eat breakfast in California, lunch in New York and dinner in Europe or vice-versa. It is reported that Wal-Mart’s 747 is furnished with beds. Executives may board in late evening in northwest Arkansas, retire, then deplane refreshed and ready for business in the morning in Europe. Just think about it!
Interstate movement multiplies that potential exponentially. The matching of skills and jobs often take one far and wide before retirement age. Then there are those who are given to repeatedly jumping on the moving trains of commerce and opportunity because they feel their life is cast in a day of small things, and they must move on to achieve their potential. Moreover, there are plenty of clichés that speak to that mindset. “A sitting hen lays no eggs,” “The moving wheel has the cargo;” The rolling stone admits no moss;” “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence;” on and on they go. But wait just a minute!
Whatever happened to the idea of “Bloom where you are planted?” Insatiable desires for fame and fortune most often have a disappointing end. Notice how the traveler always wants to be “home” for important occasions? But if everyone became nomadic in the present carousel world, where would home be and who would be there? Additionally, it is most often those who plant deep roots who are able to bloom the longest, and bear the most fruit. It is they who create stability. This principle is definitely applicable within the Lord’s churches. Travelers (missionaries) are scriptural and needed, but what are they, and how shall they proceed minus a base, Rom. 10? Folks should not be afraid of a little responsibility, but “brighten the corner where they are!” This means going beyond normal efforts to enhance the reputation of their God-given church as a spiritual institution in the community. Causes to run away at the slightest challenge to be responsible will always find them. But such challenges are actually marvelous opportunities to shine; to “bloom where they are planted,” and that really counts!

Promoted to General, Andrew Jackson was sent 150 miles west to defend New Orleans from the British.

Though the War of 1812 was effectively over two weeks earlier with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814, news had not yet reached New Orleans.

On January 8, 1815, in the last battle of the War of 1812, nearly 10,000 battle-hardened British soldiers advanced under cover of darkness and heavy fog.

They were intending to surprise General Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee and Kentucky sharpshooters, aided by French pirate Jean Lafitte and his men.

As the British neared, the fog suddenly lifted and the Americans opened fire.

In just a half an hour 2,042 British were killed or wounded, while only 13 Americans were killed.

Considered the greatest American land victory of the war, General Andrew Jackson wrote to Robert Hays, January 26, 1815, regarding the Battle of New Orleans:

“It appears that the unerring hand of Providence shielded my men from the shower of balls, bombs, and rockets, when every ball and bomb from our guns carried with them a mission of death.”

General Jackson told his aide-de-camp Major Davezac of his confidence before the Battle:

“I was sure of success, for I knew that God would not give me previsions of disaster, but signs of victory. He said this ditch can never be passed. It cannot be done.”

Andrew Jackson wrote to Secretary of War James Monroe, February 17, 1815:

“Heaven, to be sure, has interposed most wonderfully in our behalf, and I am filled with gratitude, when I look back to what we have escaped.”

The Treaty of Ghent was ratified by the U.S. Senate, February 16, 1815.

The British had considered capturing Mobile, Alabama, but on February 26, 1815, Napoleon escaped from the Island of Elba and all British troops had to be immediately returned to Europe.

For the next one hundred days, events in Europe cascaded toward the massive Battle of Waterloo.

President Madison proclaimed for the United States a National Day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God, March 4, 1815:

“No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events…distinguished by multiplied tokens of His benign interposition.”

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

Most people are good at doing something. Some are good at doing many things. There seems to be a few who are good at doing most anything. That is not this writer.
A musical instrument, no matter how fine in his hand is utterly useless: he has difficulty with a kazoo! A surgeon’s scalpel in his hand is only good for slicing butter or his body. The list could go on for a very long time. On the other hand, a musical instrument in the hands of a master musician is a wonder to behold and to hear. Beautiful music from the instrument fulfills its purpose in the right hands. A scalpel in the hands of a skilled surgeon performs life-saving surgery fulfilling its purpose of existence. It is a matter of whose hands it is in.
In the wrong hands a musical instrument instead of sounding soothing, beautiful music tends to make one want to jump off a building or whatever else to get away from the awful noise. In the wrong hands, a surgeon’s scalpel does not neatly create a door to a highly defined, troubled area. Rather it is little more than a meat carver and an instrument of death. It matters whose hands it is in.
To trust refined instruments of specific purpose into unskilled hands is a fool’s doing. How much more then should every eternal creature exercise extreme caution about whose hands he places his eternal destiny? Men are given to trusting their deeds, their religious organizations, certain religious rituals, etc. to be the keeper of their immortal souls. Surely, this is the apex of all acts of stupidity.
Jesus said of His sheep, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:27-28.
Now think about it! God became a man to pay the sin price that no mortal could pay. No one took his life from Him, rather He had the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again in resurrection. He did just that. He is the Creator God Who will bring the entire universe into total subjection and harmony with Him. Now in His hands, by faith is the one place that is safe and secure for anyone to place his immortal soul. I would have no other words, works, powers, or hands than His! The good news is that all that God requires of any person to be saved was accomplished by Jesus on the cross, and He may be had by faith!

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” So penned are the precious words of Psalm One in the KJV. A few notes of observation are in order. Think with me!
Here, the word “Blessed” in the ancient Hebrew language is simply to go or walk straight; hence, in extension the happiness and peace resultant from a straight or righteous walk. “He shall be like a tree….” Not just any tree, but a tree deeply rooted by rivers of living water; a tree that is continuously fruitful. What comes out from him (his work, as limbs or leaves on a tree) will not come to naught or fade away. Moreover, whatsoever he does (in the straight walk) shall prosper. What requisites does such a man have who is of this state and demeanor? The Psalmist answers: He governs his steps. He does not walk in the advice of the wicked ones, and he is not numbered among those who miss the mark of God’s intentions. Neither does he sit or abide in the dwelling place of the bad-mouthers. Conversely, this blessed man has his moments of genuine happiness in the Word of God, and in it he meditates (is engrossed in it day and night to the point of muttering to himself expressions of joy).
Surely, it was with much meditation on this very Psalm that the songwriter penned and set to music “I Shall Not Be Moved.” Observation plainly shows that life on earth can be as a shipwreck, or the devastation of a hurricane or the misery of the humanly unloved, and self abusers. On the other hand, it may be blessed as a fruitful tree planted by rivers of living water. What is the point of difference? Read the Psalm again and know that it is repentance and dedication through faith in Christ Jesus: His person, His works, and His Word. People of the Word are people of great faith!

The deepness of the Word

There is, today, a move away from the deep endearing knowledge of God and what He wants us to know. We are shallow in knowledge, relationship and living. We can no longer call our selves Christians because we do not pass the test of "Christ like." We want what we want and tend to move through the buffet line of the Bible, picking and choosing our desires. By this we allow our selves to indulge in worldly thought and actions.

We are called to be a separate people, distinct from the world and its practices. Those that call themselves Christians today practice worldly things and are no longer identifiable as Christians.